Search form

Committed to sharing our research and expertise, we publish regular White Papers and POVs exploring original insights and emerging trends. Take a look through our library for some of the most important topics in digital marketing.

Google recently announced a major change in the way their search algorithm ranks results on mobile devices. A new mobile-friendly algorithm is due to be launched on April 21st. This will offer more relevant and higher quality search results for people searching on mobile devices. ReadDownload

After a few days of speculation Twitter has now confirmed a deal with Google that will bring ‘real-time’ tweets back to Google search results later this year.
This is exciting news that brings with it an excellent opportunity for brands to benefit from the collaboration. Unlike most search developments, there is the time for brands and agencies to plan and adapt in order to maximise the potential opportunities created by the partnership.
ReadDownload

Today our consumers are more connected than ever before. Ongoing developments in areas such as wearable tech and the ubiquitous web will only see this increase. Constant connectivity is bringing an end to the traditional nine to five retail hours, customer service is demanded around the clock and information is required instantly. To say that one key to growing your business or brand is to focus on a smaller audience, who might cost more to find sounds like reverse logic, but it’s not. Evidence shows that adopting a data led approach to create audience relevance is vital to get cut through in today’s noisy, digital world. Understand your audience to find and create those moments with your brand that really matter to them. ReadDownload

Research produced by our German team scoring airlines across five key metrics that form the Connected Brand Index: Visibility, Usefulness, Usability, Desirability and Engagement. Given the industry’s fiercely competitive climate, iCrossing believes airlines must go beyond simply providing services to delivering positively memorable experiences across the customer journey. A connected brand connects with a targeted audience by being visible across relevant digital channels at the right time; by offering useful products and services at all lifecycle stages; by making sure website content is easy to find and usable; by building a desirable brand through consistent emotional brand values; and by being engaged in dialogue with customers across key social media. ReadDownload

We’ve put together this guide to help digital producers and strategists think about their content in a flexible and fluid way that will allow what they put together to adapt and flourish, regardless of the device it’s viewed on. We look at it from the point-of-view of your consumers as well as the colleagues and partners you work with day-to-day. ReadDownload

Companies now need to commit to removing inorganic backlinks as vigorously as they once focused on building them. Why? Because if a great part of the site’s link strength relies on unnatural and manipulative links the site’s rankings and overall traffic would be at very high risk. Companies need to become aware of these links now, BEFORE they experience traffic drops which will almost certainly occur when Google re-evaluates their site’s backlinks either through an algorithm update or a manual review. Once penalised it can take months, if not years , to claw back the position they once held on Google’s search results pages. ReadDownload

With the introduction of Hummingbird, keywords have become less important and content strategy should now be led by topical themes. Copywriters finally have more freedom to produce content that focuses on increasing user engagement rather than on how to please the search engines. ReadDownload

Since social marketing became a core part of brand strategies we’ve been asking this question. Marketers are now starting to realise that we were trying to over-simplify and in many cases missing the point: We need to understand that social networks play a different role in the sales process. ReadDownload

Many people have compared Hummingbird to previous Google updates such as Penguin and Panda. The truth is that despite them all having animal-related names, they are very different. What is Hummingbird and how will it affect search? ReadDownload

In late 2011, Google began encrypting organic search query data for users who were logged into a Google service. Two years later, brands are observing higher and higher rates of encrypted Google keyword data, with some reports of sites now seeing a 100% loss. Regardless of the exact percentage, the remaining Google keyword data for many sites is becoming too small to be useful. Search marketers must consider how to account for that gap when evaluating the effectiveness of SEO efforts. ReadDownload